1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an identification card and method for making the same and, more particularly, to an identification card having a single media and method for encoding the identification card with a colored pictorial image, colored text and machine readable digital code.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Identification cards such as credit cards, driver's licenses, etc. have employed a variety of means to avoid counterfeiting. In order to avoid the use of such identification cards by those who are not legitimate card holders, a photographic colored image of the card holder has been applied for visually recognizing the legitimate owner of the card at the time that the card is used. Such photographs are generally made by conventional photographic processes including instant photography. The photograph may thereafter be placed on a card having descriptive text printed thereon by some conventional printing process entirely distinct from the photographic process by which the pictorial image of the card holder was made. The photographic image of the card holder may thereafter be connected to the card by any conventional process, one example of which comprises the laminating of two exterior plastic sheets together to contain the photograph and card therebetween. Such identification cards are not absolutely tamper proof in that the laminated exterior plastic sheets may be separated to alter or change the photographic image of the card holder.
Most recently, it has been suggested that a code comprising characteristic parameters of the photographic image of the card holder be stored on the identification card. The authenticity of the card holder can then be verified by scanning the photographic image of the card holder and thereby redetermining the characteristic parameters of this image and comparing the same with the parameters of the corresponding code on the identification card. Thus, the risk of counterfeiting is greatly reduced since an alteration or change in the photographic image of the card holder will be quickly detected. An example of the aforementioned identification card is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,686, entitled "System for Checking the Authenticity of Identification Papers", by M. Bonicalzi et al., issued Dec. 18, 1979. The colored image of the card holder is still suggested to be a photographic black-and-white image or, alternatively, a photographic color image or transparency which then must be connected to the identification card. The code is recorded by apparatus distinct and apart from the photographic imaging apparatus which records the photographic image of the card holder, and means must be provided for independently connecting both the code to the card as well as the photographic image and thereafter providing some kind of visual text on the card through a conventional printing process.
Therefore, it is a primary object of this invention to provide an identification card having a single media on which colored pictorial images of the card holder, colored text, and machine readable digital code may be recorded by the same recording apparatus.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a laser printing method for printing on the surface of an identification card, a colored pictorial image of the card holder, colored text and optically encoded digital data.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter. The invention accordingly comprises the mechanism and system possessing the construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure.